Justice Minister proposes Adina Florea for DNA top position, despite the CSM negative opinion

Justice Minister, Tudorel Toader, has sent to President Klaus Iohannis, on Monday, the proposal to appoint Adina Florea as chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).

The announcement was made, as ever, on his Facebook page, ziare.com reports.

“Today I have sent to the President of Romania the following proposals for appointments to top positions:

Adina Florea – as DNA Chief Prosecutor;

Elena Georgiana Hosu – as Deputy Prosecutor with the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT);

Florena-Esther Sterschi – Chief Prosecutor with the Human Resources and Documentation Section of the Prosecutor General’s Office,” Minister Toader wrote on Facebook.

Last Monday, the members of the Prosecutors Section with the Superior Council of Magistracy have given a negative opinion to the Justice Minister’s proposal for the National Anti-corruption Directorate’s top position, Constanta-based prosecutor Adina Florea.

“During the October 8 sitting, the section for prosecutors with CSM, by majority, has given negative opinion to the Justice Minister’s proposal to appoint Mrs. Adina Florea in the position of chief prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption Directorate,” read the Council’s press release.

Disinterest, superficiality in the exercise of attributions, low resistance to stress, reduced analysis and synthesis capacity, syncope in relation to certain values such as honesty and impartiality, these are a series of characterizations made by the CSM Prosecutors’ Section in the case of Adina Florea.

According to the reasoning behind this decision, published on Friday by CSM, Adina Florea was toughly criticized by the magistrates.

Adina Florea, prosecutor at the Constanta Prosecutor’s Office, was heard by the CSM for three hours last Monday. During the hearings, Florea has slammed the measures taken by the previous anti-corruption leadership, arguing that “some anti-corruption VIP prosecutors have been put ahead,” also criticizing the fact that the number of acquittals in the DNA files had been high.

Florea has also slammed the general activity of the National Anti-corruption Directorate, saying that prosecutors had been too much focused on the abuse of office, given that the DNA’s object should be high level corruption cases.

On the other hand, Florea refused to voice her opinion regarding the justice laws’ amendment, saying her comments would be “hazardous” and that she would rather wait for these amendments to be operated.

The CSM opinion is advisory (binding only to be obtained, not to be observed) and several weeks ago Toader said that, although he expects the CSM opinion to be negative, he will not consider it and will send to the President anyway the proposal to appoint Adina Florea.